All the Myriad Ways
by Still Not King
Summary: AU of S4. Stranded in Pete's World, Rose is struggling to get the dimension cannon to work properly when a Time Lord she's never met drops into her life. Romana promises to get Rose back to her universe and the Doctor, hopefully in time to warn him about a darkness threatening reality. Ten/Rose and Romana/Rose friendship.


**Author's Note: **This is an AU set in S4 and it will mainly focus on Rose/Ten and Romana and Rose's friendship, but there will also be past Romana/Doctor and Rose/Tentoo.

Romana looks like Jessica Brown Findaly, who plays Sybil on Downton Abbey.

* * *

_Tears were threatening her vision, but she did her best to hold them back. If this was the lasidest time she would be able to see the Doctor, then she was not going to ruin it by turning into a blubbering mess. Though there was still a large part of her that didn't-no couldn't-accept that she would never see him again, she knew that if she didn't tell him then she would never forgive herself. _

"_I love you," she managed to get out, somehow. _

"_Quite right too," he quipped. He was smiling but it was strained and it didn't quite meet his eyes. She smiled back despite the tears and disappointment but his next words stilled her:_

"_And I suppose…if it's the one last chance," he hesitated and stared at her for a moment. "Rose Tyler, I-"_

_And he was gone. _

_There was no chance now to stop the tears from falling and she didn't want to even try. She turned back to Mum, Mickey, and Pete but she wasn't able to get very far. Her mum ran over and she sobbed into her arms, unaware of anything outside of her own pain. _

_The Doctor was gone. _

* * *

She woke up to the strident sound of her mobile ringing.

She blinked, not fully awake yet, and pushed herself out of her bed. Stumbling, she made it to her dresser and picked up the mobile, just seconds away from the call going to her voice mail. Not even bothering to check who the caller was, she placed the phone to her hear and muttered, "Hello."

"Morning, Rose," said Mickey, "look I know this is your week off but you need to get down here. As soon as you can."

Rose was too stunned to answer right away. Mickey, as well as Mum and Pete, had been nagging her for weeks to take time off from Torchwood; since she had first joined them, she had always been a bit of a workaholic but even she had to admit that she had become worse since the dimension cannon was built.

But, it was for a good cause: there was something very wrong, very dark going on and she had to warn the Doctor. She had argued that point but the others had been insistent so she had agreed to take some time off…and now Mickey was telling her to go to work.

Something must have gone very wrong.

"Mickey, what is it? What's happened? Is it the cannon-"

"Rose," he cut her off, "I think we found the TARDIS."

* * *

She was glad Mum and Pete were still asleep: it made sneaking out much easier.

The closer she got to Torchwood, the more her stomach tied itself in knots. She felt almost as if she had a war going on inside her, with hope on one side and reality on the other. Ever since she had been stranded her, she stubbornly held onto the hope that she would find a way back to her universe…and the Doctor.

Her hope had only intensified once they had built the dimension cannon. That hope had been frustrated when, despite the cannon working, she had only been able to return to her universe for a few minutes. They had tried again, but the cannon failed, and that was when she had been convinced to take a break.

Now, there was a chance that the Doctor could be here and she wasn't sure how to take it. She wanted to just let go and be completely hopeful that he had found a way back, but she couldn't. The Doctor himself had told her that there was no way he could get her and he wasn't normally wrong about these things.

Hope versus doubt. Rose wasn't sure if she even wanted to pick one side or the other, she was too conflicted and Mickey hadn't been able to tell her much besides that something that looked a lot like the TARDIS had suddenly appeared in a park and Torchwood had confiscated it.

Rose sighed as she finally got to the Torchwood building. She hesitated briefly, stomach still tied in knots, but made herself enter the building: she wasn't going to find anything out, if she couldn't even walk inside a building.

* * *

It was the TARDIS.

Torchwood had actually recovered the TARDIS.

Rose could only stare at it, vaguely aware that Mickey was explaining something to her. It was battered looking, and disturbingly, smoke was drifting out of it, but it was undoubtedly the TARDIS. She felt numb, staring at it, she was still having trouble admitting to herself that the TARDIS was actually here.

Suddenly, she was pushed forward.

She glanced back and Mickey rolled his eyes at her. "Oh, go on Rose. You're not going to hear anything I'm saying until you see him."

She smiled faintly and stepped forward. Her emotions were still warring inside her, warning her not to get too excited, but she still found a way to push open that familiar blue door…

…and a woman stumbled into her.

Rose nearly fell but she was able to stop herself in time.

"Sorry, I didn't expect someone to open the door."

Rose didn't answer right away, too busy studying the other woman. She was a pretty brunette who looked to be around Rose's age; though she was dressed strangely in red robes. There was something familiar about her, a certain look in the eye, something that made her seem ancient even though she looked so young.

It couldn't be…

"Doctor?" she asked.

The woman blinked at her and then smiled. "No, I'm not the Doctor. I am a Time Lady though." She held out a hand for Rose to shake and Rose, still in shock, grabbed it. "My name is Romana and you are?"

"Rose." She still wasn't entirely taking in the situation, everything was happening so fast.

The woman's smile widened. "It's very nice to meet you, Rose, but I have one question."

Only one? Rose had about a million.

"Do you happen to have any Jelly babies?"

Before she could answer that very strange question, Romana fainted. Rose just stared down at the prone body in front of her, mind reeling with so many questions. She was so absorbed in her own thoughts that she nearly jumped when Mickey placed a hand on her arm.

He gazed at her sympathetically.

"I'm sorry it wasn't him."

So was she.

* * *

**Author's Note: **Constructive criticism is accepted.


End file.
